Fall Theater Season 2012: 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' 'Dead Accounts'

Updated Sept. 10, 2012 2:53 p.m. ET

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Al Pacino
Associated Press

'Glengarry Glen Ross'

Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, Opens Nov. 11

Al Pacino is still trying to sell you a sweet piece of real estate in Florida, but he's got a different sales pitch this time. In David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Glengarry Glen Ross," Mr. Pacino—who played the successful and smooth-talking salesman Ricky Roma in the 1992 film—will now star as the older Shelley "The Machine" Levene, the hackneyed has-been who just can't seem to close anymore. Bobby Cannavale will take on the part of Roma.

The two actors became friendly after Mr. Pacino caught Mr. Cannavale in last year's "The Motherf--ker With the Hat" on Broadway. "Al was taken with him in that play," says "Glengarry" director Daniel Sullivan, who pointed out that in the play, Roma sees Levene as a mentor, and in real life, Mr. Cannavale feels that way about Mr. Pacino. "They have a familial vibe," he says.

Mr. Sullivan says the revival came about after Mr. Pacino called him last year to say he had been rereading the play and had developed a connection to the character of Levene.

Broadway is ripe for another revival of the play about desperate salesmen, Mr. Sullivan says. "The last time the play was done was during the real estate bubble [2005] and now we are feeling the consequence of that bubble," he says.

"There's an undercurrent of worry in the air about where we are headed," he said. "I think that anxiety will make us see this play in a new way."

Audiences might feel that anxiety when they see the price tag for a ticket: During the holidays, a premium seat will set theatergoers back $297—one of the highest prices on Broadway. During the show's 10-week run, prices for a regular seat range from $72 to $157, says Telecharge.com.

—Stefanie Cohen

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Actress Katie Holmes
Associated Press

'Dead Accounts'

Music Box Theatre, Opens Nov. 29

When Jack shows up in the middle of the night at his childhood home in Cincinnati, he's acting very strange. Why does he have eight pints of ice cream on him? Why did he pay $1,000 for them? Where did he get all that money? And what happened to his detestable wife?

"Dead Accounts," a new play by Theresa Rebeck, explores corporate greed, small town values and whether or not you really can go home again. Norbert Leo Butz plays Jack, Katie Holmes the sister-who-never-left-town, Lorna.

Ms. Rebeck, who created NBC's "Smash," had a successful run on Broadway last season with "Seminar," starring Alan Rickman. Director Jack O'Brien says "Dead Accounts" reminds him of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," where the characters find humor within the play's bleakness. "I think that's what Theresa [Rebeck] is doing." he says, "creating an honest x-ray of society that is as baffled by the world as we are. It's funny, but it's painfully true."

He says he warned Ms. Holmes, who recently grabbed headlines by divorcing Tom Cruise, that the role was not glamorous. "I said, 'This is a character role.' Ms. Holmes, who is from Toledo, Ohio, told Mr. O'Brien, "I'm a product of the Midwest. I know this mentality, and these kind of people."

Mr. O'Brien said he and Ms. Holmes were discussing casting while her divorce papers were being filed. "I think she handled it impeccably," says Mr. O'Brien. "I was not facing a broken woman."

—S.C.

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Wayne Coyne
FilmMagic/Getty Images

'Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots'

La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla, Calif., Opens Nov. 6

Fans of the psychedelic rock band the Flaming Lips won't be surprised that their music has been made into a staged rock opera.

Led by frontman Wayne Coyne, the band's live shows are consistently theatrical, including projections, costumes, puppets and performance art.

When Mr. Coyne began looking around for a director to turn the band's album, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," into a musical, one name came up: Des McAnuff, the director behind the Broadway productions of "Jersey Boys," "The Who's Tommy" and Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar."

Mr. McAnuff describes the show as a science fiction fantasy involving Yoshimi and a "plethora of pink robots." It's based on Flaming Lips' songs, including one about Yoshimi battling evil robots: "Those evil-natured robots, they're programmed to destroy us, she's gotta be strong to fight them, so she's taking lots of vitamins."

To form a narrative structure for the piece, Mr. McAnuff worked with Mr. Coyne and pulled from three albums: "Yoshimi," "The Soft Bulletin" and "At War with the Mystics." The band also created some original songs for the musical that have not been released.

"If we could manage to capture the Flaming Lips' audience for the theater, that would be thrilling," says Mr. McAnuff. "Wayne is exactly what the theater needs."

—S.C.

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A scene from 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'
Michael Brosilow

'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'

Booth Theater, Opens Oct. 13

Pam MacKinnon first met Edward Albee in 2001 when she was directing his work, "The Play About the Baby," for a regional theater. Two of the playwright's other plays were in rehearsal nearby, so he would drop by to see her regularly.

"I was a young director, and it was one of my first larger productions and all of a sudden, Edward Albee was stopping by. We'd sit side by side in the rehearsal hall. We just clicked," says Ms. MacKinnon, who has gone on to direct nine more of Albee's works in the past 10 years.

"I knew I would direct 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' at a certain point, because of my relationship with him," Ms. MacKinnon says.

This production, by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, stars Tracy Letts and Amy Morton as George and Martha, America's feistiest first couple.

Opening night marks the 50th anniversary of the play, which starred Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill as the booze-guzzling hosts of the world's most harrowing cocktail party. Although audience members will likely go into the theater having seen the 1966 Mike Nichols movie starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, there are surprises in store.

"The play is much funnier than the movie," says Ms. MacKinnon, who was nominated for a Tony for last year's "Clybourne Park." "There is a lightness to the first act that isn't in the movie—the laughter is big and frequent. A lot of audience members find that surprising."

—S.C.

'The Heiress'

Walter Kerr Theatre, Opens Nov. 1

A would-be spinster has never looked so good. Redheaded beauty Jessica Chastain will make her Broadway debut this fall in the revival of "The Heiress."

The play, which is based on the 1880 novel "Washington Square" by Henry James, tells the story of Catherine Sloper, a sheltered woman under the thumb of her rich-but-ruthless father (played by David Strathairn). Salvation arrives in the form of swoon-worthy suitor Morris Townsend (played by Dan Stevens of Downton Abbey). But is he in love with Catherine? Or her cash?

"The play presents a very contemporary dilemma: How do you define yourself and how do you construct a narrative of who you are?" says director Moisés Kaufman.

"It's a very pertinent dilemma, especially for women, who have so many voices trying to tell them what to do or how to act," Mr. Kaufman says. "Having a woman try to find her own identity seems like a very contemporary dramatic event."

Mr. Kaufman says he was drawn to Ms. Chastain because she imbues her film characters with "an incredible emotional truth," particularly Mrs. O'Brien in "The Tree of Life," Celia Foote in "The Help" (for which she was nominated for an Academy Award) and Mossad agent Rachel Singer in "The Debt," all of which came out in 2011.

Mr. Kaufman wouldn't say whether he would mask Ms. Chastain's luminous looks in order to convince audiences that Catherine is supposedly plain-looking. "We're in the theater and we have a character actress playing the role," he says. "We will find a way to be truthful to it."

"The Heiress," which premiered on Broadway in 1947, was made into a 1949 movie starring Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift. It was last performed at the Cort Theatre in 1995 and actress Cherry Jones won a Tony Award for the role of Catherine.

—S.C.

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Bebe Neuwirth
George Holz

'Golden Age'

New York City Center—Stage 1, Opens Dec. 4

Terrence McNally's new play, "Golden Age," takes place in Paris, 1835, backstage at opening night of Vincenzo Bellini's new opera, "I Puritani." Bellini, the Italian opera composer, is feeling vulnerable—he's worried the new opera won't stand up to his earlier works, including "Norma," he's worried about his health (rightly so—he died months later) and most of all he's worried about his legacy. Stage veteran Bebe Neuwirth plays opera star and Bellini muse Maria Malibran, who can't hit the notes she once could, and Lorenzo Pisoni plays baritone Antonio Tamburini in this Manhattan Theatre Club production.

Director Walter Bobbie was compelled by the play's premise—how do you follow a great success? "I find it fascinating—the pressures artists place on themselves and the pressure others place on them as well," he says. "It's a high-wire act."

Mr. Bobbie and Ms. Neuwirth have a long-standing relationship—she was in "Chicago" as Velma in 1996, and 10 years later as Roxie. Years ago she mentioned to Mr. Bobbie that she wanted to play a romantic lead after being so closely identified with Lilith (the humorless wife of Frasier in "Cheers"). "That lingered in my head for five years," says Mr. Bobbie. "When I read this I called her and said, 'I think I have the part for you.'"

The Coming Crop of Movie Stars

4,850

Number of girls who auditioned to play Annie and the orphans in the musical revival opening Nov. 8.

Corrections & Amplifications Cherry Jones won a Tony Award for her role in the 1995 Broadway production of "The Heiress," which was produced by Lincoln Center and staged at the Cort Theatre. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Ms. Jones won an Academy Award for the role and that the play had been staged at Lincoln Center.

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